younger Seneca, with whose writings it shows an intimate agreement. Notwithstanding it has been twice re-edited in English, and once in German, within recent years, almost no notice has been taken in geological literature of this remarkable production.[1] Sartorius, Baron of Waltershausen, who gives a list of ancient Etna eruptions,[2] refers to it casually as a 'schönes Gedicht.' Sudhaus, however, in his thesis on 'Ætna' devotes considerable space to the scientific aspects of the poem, and traces a connection between the author's general theories of vulcanism and those of Posidonius.
An idea of the scientific value of 'Ætna' may be gathered from the following selections from the analysis of the poem as given by Professor Ellis in his critical recension of the text (Oxford, 1901).
Ætna.
(222-271) The highest pleasure of the human soul is to search into the causes of things. What is the origin of the universe, what is the nature of ite framework? Will it pass into extinction, or go on forever? By what degree is the moon's orbit less than the sun's? What stars have a fixed circuit, what are the alternations of the zodiacal signs? Such lofty speculations as these should be our chief end and aim, as indeed they are our highest and most divine pleasure. Nor should we forget meanwhile the earth; for folly it were indeed to explore the sky and the stars, yet indolently neglect the great spectacle that lies before us and at our feet.
(187-217) If you ask what is the cause that produces the outbreaks of Aetna as we know them, I appeal to what we see; to touch we are not permitted, the force of the explosion making it dangerous to come near. Ignited sand is whirled up in a cloud, burning masses of rock are heaved skywards, a loud crash bursts from every part of the mountain, the ground is strewn in every direction with masses of sand and stone.
(447-507) Round the sides of Aetna you may see stones in a state of fuming heat, and rocks with the fire smouldering in their pores. When the volcano begins to prepare for an eruption there are premonitory signs, such as cracking of the ground, falling away of the soil, low murmurs from the depths of the mountain, flame. When these occur it is time to withdraw to the safety of some adjoining eminence. The eruption comes in a moment, masses of burning rock are heaved in the air, shoals of black sand are driven up to the stars. They fall into the most fantastic shapes. Some look like troops under- ↑ Gellius has fared better than the author of 'Ætna,' being quoted in full by seventeenth-century writers on Vesuvius, notably by Alzario della Croce, in his Vesuvius ardens (Rome, 1632).
- ↑ Sartorius ('Ætna,' Vol. I., p. 202) appears to be uncertain whether the combined statements of Virgil, Livy and Petronius refer to one or two violent eruptions about the middle of the first century B. C. It seems probable that only one is indicated, the date of which was either 44 or 49 B. C. Livy, as quoted by Servius, makes the eruption immediately precede the death of Caesar in 44; Petronius, on the other hand, places it before the passage of the Rubicon in 49.
